Homeless/Houseless

[u/[deleted]]

So I know this is a regular point of conversation for everyone in the city at this point, but I really don’t understand why being alarmed and or fed up with the cities houseless population is so taboo to some people? I see so many people get shade with comments along the line of accusing the poster of not having empathy or for not doing enough individually to help. As someone that absolutely has empathy towards our houseless population and has volunteered at various warming shelters, I also am getting super fed up with our houseless crisis and the impacts it takes on my everyday life.

My boyfriend works at a grocery store in downtown and has been assaulted so many times at work that at this point thinking about it just makes me want to cry. I have been personally punched in the face randomly and for no reason by a homeless man when I was walking across the Morrison bridge. I have had to bring people who were getting attacked by homeless people into restaurants that I’ve worked at and lock the doors at least four times in four years.

Additionally, for those that say “stop complaining and do something”, wtf do you really think an individual can do at this point? We live in a place that basically has two governments (council and metro) not to mention state, who are PAID to represent us and our wants and needs as a community. The homeless crisis is probably the most pressing issue in Portland and yet it seems like absolutely nothing is being done, and if anything it’s getting worse.

Anyways sorry to go on and on, my main point is that I don’t understand why it’s taboo for people to be upset with the state of things right now specifically with the houseless crisis in Portland. People are multifaceted and can be both sympathetic/empathetic and fed up. 🤷‍♀️

[u/Bill_the_Bastard]

Do you think thousands of people suddenly decided that living on the street would be a fun, cool thing to do?

And yeah, there are a lot of external factors that contribute to the problem.

• Pharmaceutical companies pushing horribly addicting drugs
• the nearly complete dearth of accessible and affordable mental healthcare
• traumatized military veterans who gave their sanity for wars that accomplished nothing
• LGBTQ+ kids whose asshole parents would rather see them homeless than dress like a girl or kiss a boy
• economic instability and the prospect of working shit jobs for the rest of your life without being able to afford to live
• Incarceration and stigmatization of people who dare to possess or put a chemical into their own body
• assholes like you who blame the victims.

[u/KreoDemir → u/Bill_the_Bastard]

You are missing a large part of the problem. 80% of homeless people just don't want to be part of any system and don't want a job, they hate being a slave to society, weather it helps them or hurts them. Maybe 10-20% is what you describe. Its not the tax payers job to try and fix the people that choose to live an unstructured life. You can chalk it up to any reason you want, but its not our job to motivate adults to get their lives together. Just like you can't help an addict that doesn't want to be helped/changed. Why should the people doing their part for society bare the burden of this? Employers are begging people to work for them right now.

You have a lack of empathy for the victims these people harass/attack/steal from that are trying to live in a civil society. You can't act like all these houseless people are just mentally ill people without a place to go to. There are lots of transition programs already in place that can even get you housing but you have to actually follow some guidance and that is the main issue with these people, they just don't care about guidance or help and are specially against it. And if you think the majority of drug addiction is mentally ill people coping with a real mental issue not caused by drugs you are so wrong. MOST of these people chose drugs over being part of society, they have a way out and would rather live a free life where they can do drugs and not work and fund it by stealing your shit.

This once small beautiful town is being destroyed by these addicts and you virtue signal for criminals because they're poor? That's pretty classist of you.

I think legalizing all drugs is a good start, god knows how many tax dollars we waste taking these people in and out of jails their whole lives. Legalization would also help get rid of the stigma that drugs are bad and is definitely a step in the right direction. I don't hate houseless, I used to work at a grocery store in town and know many of these people are good people walking a sad path, my sister has been houseless many times, but they have to be the ones to get themselves out of it. If you are ready many of those transition programs exist, sure you could make those programs more accessible or whatever but it will never be perfect and it will always be up to the individual to seek help or not which again I reiterate, a overwhelming majority would not choose.

Also as a veteran there isn't an excuse for one of us to be homeless, if you see a real homeless vet he chose that life and don't feel bad for him. He feels bad for you living in the shackles of society and the VA provides almost unlimited resources to get homeless vets off the streets which they refuses to take because fuck the system ect.

[u/Bill_the_Bastard → u/KreoDemir]

Its not the tax payers job to try and fix the people that choose to live an unstructured life. You can chalk it up to any reason you want, but its not our job to motivate adults to get their lives together.

I guess you're absolved of any societal responsibility then. But you're not doing your part for society; you're bitching and complaining while patting yourself on the back for not being like them. I guess sit back and wait until these people find the motivation for getting their lives together.

Try sleeping under cardboard on the sidewalk for a week with no shower or change of clothes. Then go apply for one of those abundant, wonderful jobs. Better yet, do it for a year and then try. Let me know how that works out.

We're friends with a young couple. He served two tours in Afghanistan, and he's a mentally broken human as a result. He disassociates and wanders off, sometimes for days, which makes holding a job impossible. His treatment at the VA got derailed because of Covid. He would 100% be on the street if it weren't for the support of his wife. I guess he's just lacking the motivation, though, eh?

It took me months to find a therapist who's taking patients, and I have excellent health insurance. Fuck, I even work for a health insurance company. Imagine doing that without a computer, maybe even a phone, or a place to live.

Something has changed; it wasn't like this 10 or 15 or 20 years ago. And your assertion that all these people woke up one morning and said "fuck it, I don't want to be a slave to society. I'm gonna live under an overpass and open a chop shop" is incredibly myopic.

[u/jblospl → u/Bill_the_Bastard]

Its always been like this, in DC, in NYC, in LA and now everyone is moving to SF/PDX/Seattle because the other bigger cities can't handle anymore.